Page 60 of Better Than a Duke
“Itisorderly, isn’t it? I smell my mother’s hand in it all, and that annoys me. I’m not certain why, because Lady Pauline is literally everything I said I want in a wife. And then some.”
“Perhaps it’s easy because there’s no emotion involved,” she stated. “Courting is supposed to be about falling in love, and that is chaotic and mad. This is a business agreement. Which is what you’re after, yes?”
“Yes. It still feels like it shouldn’t be so… simple. I don’t even have to lift a finger. Just go along with her suggestions, and I’ll be married before I realize it.”
“And that is your complaint?”
“I’m being foolish about it, I suppose, but…” She heard him move, and then he slipped through the gate to join her in the Grove House garden. “I keep coming back to that same word. Trap.”
“I do know what you mean.” Iris looked at his profile as he sank to the ground, knees bent and back against the wall. A moment later she joined him. At least no one would be looking for them tonight. “Trent is not something I would even have imagined. In fact, the idea of remarrying at all, even to some wealthy gentleman, never occurred to me. I’m not looking forward to a union, but there’s a certain amount of sense to the match.”
He passed the bottle back to her. “How was Edmund? He looked angry when I left.”
“Oh, he’s been growling at me for hours. I should have challenged Lady Pauline to a duel, evidently.”
Beckett snickered. “I might have enjoyed seeing that.”
She knocked his ribs with her elbow. “I attempted to explain that yesterday I didn’t own a horse and this evening I don’t own a horse, so essentially nothing has changed, but he has a strong sense of justice.”
“He leads with his heart. Which is very refreshing.”
A tear filled one eye and spilled over. “It’s remarkable, considering the absolute volcanic ruin of his life so far.”
“No. He had you. The ruin might have been all around him, but you kept him safe, kept his world in balance. Anything doing damage to you, therefore, is unacceptable.”
“Well, that’s very insightful of you.” She glanced sideways at him, to find him already gazing at her.
Slowly, clearly expecting her to stop him, he leaned sideways until his mouth caught hers. Immediate, heady arousal winged through her, hot and wet. She couldn’t put it to the wine, because she’d imbibed barely a glass’s worth of the stuff thus far. No, she wanted him. She wanted to forget the mess that remained around her life for a few blasted minutes and just… enjoy being with someone who wanted her.
Sliding her hand into the thick dark hair at the back of his head, she kissed him back, twisting to face him and half closing her eyes at the warm, hard heat of him. Both of them could be engaged within a week, but they weren’t promised to anyone tonight.
“Iris, are you—”
“Don’t ask me if I’m certain,” she interrupted, going up onto her knees and yanking her dress out from under her legs. “Just… don’t talk.”
“I can manage that.”
“Good.” She swung her right leg over his, sinking down onto his thighs. The two of them together unfastened his trousers, and then he lifted up on his hands as she tugged them down to his knees. And oh, he was gloriously aroused.
With a small smile of satisfaction she raised up again, shifted forward, and then slowly, very slowly, lowered herself onto him, sinking down around him until his hard cock filled her completely.
“Oh, yes,” she breathed, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his.
Beckett tilted her chin up with his fingers, kissing her open-mouthed, tongues tangling. Even as she considered that she would rather be naked and rolling about in a comfortable bed with him, he shifted beneath her and she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning aloud. His gaze on her face was intense and amused and aroused, and with a breathless smile of her own Iris lifted up a little, bracing her hands on his shoulders, and sank down again.
His jaw clenched, his head falling back a little. Beckett splayed his big hands on her bare thighs, holding on to her as he thrust up into her the next time she lowered herself on him. In a moment they’d found their rhythm, bouncing up and down on the side of the garden beneath the wall, the chirps of crickets and frogs and their heavy, deep breathing the only sounds. Beyond the wall carriages and carts rolled by, someone announced they were going to White’s, and dogs barked farther up the street.
Iris dug her fingers into his shoulders, holding him hard as she climaxed, spasming and euphoric, with a held breath.Good heavens. Not being able to make a sound somehow made it…more. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her back arching, and in response Beckett grunted, pushed up hard and fast into her, and then came, himself.
Sitting up straighter, he caught a hand around the nape ofher neck and brought her face down to kiss her again, deep and slow. Iris wanted to melt, to sink into him and simply stay there. In the garden. Their lower halves naked. “Good heavens,” she murmured, kissing him back. He lifted an eyebrow, his other hand stroking up her thigh, and she chuckled. “You can speak now. Quietly.”
“I think we spilled the wine.”
She looked for it, finding it a foot away and still upright. With a grin she picked it up and took another drink, then handed it off to him. The idea of them remaining there, him still inside her, made her want to rip off all his clothes and her clothes and do things with him. More things. Naughtier things.
Scooting his bare backside back toward the wall a bit, he drank, as well. “I’m glad I stayed home tonight,” he whispered, lowering both of his hands to her thighs now and still being very distracting.
“So am I. I needed this.” She’d neededhim,actually, because she couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else. Especially not with that person whose name and face she didn’t want to conjure right now. He would likely break a hip doing this, anyway, and she didn’t trust him. She trusted Beckett.
